Thermionic Culture THE CULTURE VULTURE SUPER 15 Stereo Valve Distortion - Manual (Page 7)

© Thermionic Culture Ltd, 2014 6
3 General Operational Hints
When just “warming” the sound use “T” or “P1” setting with
output level control at 10 for line level output. Turn down the
control as you increase input level and/or with increased V2
current settings. Turn to max for most SQ1 & SQ2 applications.
The “cleanest” setting for the bias is 0.25mA and this should be
used to give sounds just a bit more “naturality”.
A good setting to simulate analogue tape distortion is “T”,
normal drive, meter set to 0.3-0.4mA. The most popular setting,
generally, appears to be “P1” 0.4mA.
The “PK” settings were designed with guitars in mind but they
can be used equally well with keyboards and other instruments.
We have found that because the frequency peak operates
around the bias section of the circuit the EQ effect is quite
unique in its results. There is a subtle “expansion” effect
happening along with the peaking effect that gives a far more
interesting and interactive result to the distortion than simply
EQ’ing the signal into or out of the unit would ever achieve. This
adds a very interesting dimension to the way an electric guitar
player responds to the unit and vice versa.
So select your setting bearing in mind the musical key. The
treated instrument will really stand out in the mix. Remember,
reducing the V2 current will increase the lift, whereas no bias, or
max current, will nullify the effect.
On the “squash” (“SQ”) settings only, it’s a characteristic of the
type of valve used that a frequency doubling effect can occur
when distortion sets in. This can be quite interesting and is
most likely to occur with high bias (around 0.1mA current).
Use the “+10” setting of the “drive” switch if you want a little
more “bite”.. There may be sufficient gain to use this setting for
some electric guitars when DI’d, if a low bias (high current thru